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QUINCY ‒ The Quincy Family Welcome Center, where service providers process migrants arriving in Massachusetts, continues to drop off families, including very small children, at area MBTA stations to spend the night unsheltered, aid volunteers at the T station said.

On Thursday night, two families with four children under 8 were transported from Quincy's Welcome Center at Eastern Nazarene College and deposited at the JFK/UMass MBTA station in Dorchester, the volunteers said. The families gathered with their belongings in a dirty bus shelter that faintly smelled of urine, apparently with the intent of sleeping there.

Last week, as many as 50 people, all of Haitian origin, slept outside Quincy's Wollaston station for three consecutive nights. The state came one night and took them to respite centers.

According to a spokesperson from the Governor's office, the Welcome Center, which is operated by Bay State Community Services, now runs shuttle buses to JFK/UMass rather than Wollaston Station, which is within walking distance of the campus, because service is suspended at Wollaston.

The MBTA has suspended Red Line service from JFK/UMass to Braintree from Sept. 6-29. Much of the parking area outside Wollaston has been fenced off and is storing construction equipment.

The parents of the migrant families declined interviews through a translator. It was not clear when and from where they arrived at the Quincy Family Welcome Center. A spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey said that families often arrive at Welcome Centers "via taxi or public transportation from Logan (International Airport), hospitals, and local non-profits."

A handful of volunteers from the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network handed out blankets, warm clothing, snacks and water at the JFK/UMass T stop. The volunteers also gave one of the parents a Charlie Card with enough stored value for the families to enter the station and use the bathrooms.

Volunteer Ashley Smith said that families must be processed at the Quincy Family Welcome Center for referral to one of the state's "temporary respite centers," where homeless families and pregnant individuals can receive shelter for five days and possibly longer.

The two families stranded at JFK/UMass waited all day in Quincy to be processed, but never were, Smith said. They will return to the Family Welcome Center on Friday morning, hoping better luck will spare them another night sleeping outside a train station on a bench, Smith said.

Accepting a bed at one of the "temporary respite centers" prevents guests from placement in the semi-permanent emergency shelter system for at least six months. In April, the Healey administration limited stays at lodgings within the emergency shelter system to nine months, with some families eligible to extend their stays up to 180 days.

Visibly upset, Smith said immigration policies are preventing people from seeking refuge for themselves and their families, whether they're forced to wait in a Mexican border town for an asylum appointment or at a Dorchester train station for shelter. Massachusetts hasn't adequately distinguished itself from states more traditionally associated with tough immigration policies, such as Texas, Smith said.

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Reach Peter Blandino at pblandino@patriotledger.com.

Dozens of migrant families spent the night outside the Wollaston MBTA station in Quincy, Massachusetts, on Monday.

Charitable groups said it’s a symptom of the lack of shelter space in the state and the result of new rules that went into effect earlier this month.

The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN) said 47 people – about half of them children – were sleeping outside on the concrete floor, benches and on a lawn nearby.

It happened after the BIJAN ran out of money and were no longer able to sponsor their hotel rooms as they had for the past few nights.

“There’s no space for us. You don’t do that. For me you don’t do that, it’s a lack of respect,” said Eisner Dervil, an immigrant from Haiti.

“Police got here early this morning and woke us up, telling us we couldn’t stay here,” said Wisler Sol, another Haitian immigrant.

The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network said 47 people – about half of them children - were sleeping outside on the concrete floor, benches and on a lawn nearby. Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston

Their presence was noticed by those passing by and living in the area.

“Somebody needs to do something,” said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. “You have to care because this is a problem; children are involved.”

Fahema Rahman, an immigrant herself, learned about the families and decided to help out by donating food. She said she expects more from local leaders.

“Anyone’s babies should not be sleeping on the ground in America,” she said. “There are the smartest people in the country here we should be able to solve any problem.”

Last month the governor put an end to families sleeping at Logan Airport.

At the beginning of the month, she introduced tighter measures to ease the burden on the shelter system – which her office said has helped, helping 3,800 families receive work permits leading to an average of 330 families being able to leave the shelters. But it has also pushed out more than 200 families who aren’t considered priority.

“Unfortunately, it's turned out that it's really become really relying on volunteer support,” said BIJAN’s Annie Gonzalez.

Gonzalez said BIJAN used grant money and donations to place dozens of families who were pushed out of the state shelters into hotels for a few nights until their funds ran dry on Monday.

“There is a rainy day fund for emergencies that the state of Massachusetts has and I don't know what else they think constitutes an emergency, but to me, this seems like one,” she said.

The governor’s office issued this statement, saying: "It's terrible that families slept outside last night. We have asked the nonprofit assisting them to bring them to our family welcome centers today so that they can be referred to a temporary respite center."

But with no immediate lasting relief in sight, worry and the cooler weather are creeping in.